A fisherman fishing on the edge of the Occoquan, part of the
Potomac River caught a gigantic snakehead fish.
He weighed the fish and it came in at around 18 pounds 4 ounces. He gave the
fish to a buddy to eat for dinner, before he realized that he had caught a
record breaking fish (the previous record holding fish had only weighed 17
pounds 4 ounces) caught eight years before in Japan. This might have been the
catch to “get away” in terms of setting the new world record, however this
raises other questions.
The Snakehead is a large predator from Asia
that feeds on other fish. Biologists have long feared that its presence in U.S. rivers and
lakes could be very destructive. However, Virginia
has seen zero impact on fish in the Potomac.
The snakehead population in the Potomac seems
to be stabilizing.
I picked this article because my dad and I always share
strange, large fish stories with each other. I actually found this article
first and shared it with my dad. This one was special because it’s pretty close
to home, here in the Potomac. I think the
article was fairly well written, but as a freaky-fish-fenatic I wished there
had been more information on other records being set in the Potomac.
Besides for that I enjoyed reading the article and felt it gave enough details
to follow the story easily.
